Lost and Found
by BloodRedPetals
Summary: My whole life, I was taught to stay away from the surface, and never be spotted by the humans. I was taught that these humans were evil and barbaric, and wouldn't hesitate to kill our kind. Yet, there I was, on a ship with these humans. Maybe we were wrong, maybe humans weren't all that bad as we made them out to be...


9:41 AM 11/6/2013

The current was so strong, pulling and pushing me into a different kind of directions. My head would bob in and out of the water, each time I would gasp as a new wave came crashing down on my head, pulling me under again. Underwater, I looked around for a safe place to hide, but there was nothing there. Just the sand and the few fish brave enough to be swimming out during such a horrible storm. Even under the surface, I could still feel the strong current, pushing me. I pushed with all of my strength, trying to break the surface. My body was sore and achy. I was exhausted; who knew how long I was out in this storm. I pushed harder, bursting through the surface, the cool air wrapping around me like a second skin. Light flashed across the darkened sky, followed by a loud booming, the sound of the thunder vibrating off of the water, shaking my insides. I need to find a safe place, before my body grew too tired to move. I could feel unconsciousness, calling my name, seducing me into its dark nothingness. I felt my eye lids grow heavy, my limbs beginning to cease up, I was so tired. But I need to keep fighting, so with one last burst of energy, I dove under wave, my tail flipped up out of the water before splashing back down, forcing me forward. Pushing harder, I swam as fast as I could, a determined frown making itself known on my face. Pushing up to the surface once again, I looked around for any sign of sold ground. I knew I couldn't go back down to the ocean, they would find me. I clapped my open palm down into the water with frustration. I chewed on my lower lip, ready to give up. Just as I was ready to give up and turn back home, I saw a shadow of and island not to far off.

Relief filled my being as I dove back under water and forced my tail to pump harder, slicing through the water like a sword fish. Once I saw signs of some large and some small stones poking out from the water, I knew I was close. I could see the sandy ground coming closer to the surface. When I bobbed my head above the surface to catch a glimpse of how close I was to the island, I let a small smile appear on my face. I must have been a few meters away, not that back. I cautiously shifted around the rocks and man my way over to the small island. The sand brushed against my hands and tails and I hauled myself onto the sandy shore. The dry sand clung to my skin like a second skin, it began to grow itchy and annoying. I sighed, trying my best to brush off the now wet sand, but only succeed on getting it stuck to my hands. Looking down at my cerulean coloured tail, I ran my sandy fingers over its wet scales and bit my lip. What would happen if I dried out? Would I die? I was always taught to stay below the surface, but I was above now. And there was no one here to teach me what was right or wrong. I looked around in search for something, but I found nothing. All I found was darkness, the dark forest had a misty cloud hovering above it. Every time a flash of lighting struck, it cast frightening shadows across the sand, the thunder would rumble the very ground I sat on. I was grateful for one thing though; at least I knew where I was and what the things on this island were. I would have to thank my father for teaching me something about the human world. But even some things I was still new too. I didn't know every thing to the human world, but I was at least thankful for the little knowledge that I did have. I was too afraid to leave the water for fear that I would dry out, so stayed half in the water and on shore.

I was too tired to think, it had never occurred to me that it was possible that I could be spotted by humans, while out on shore. I was so tired, that I really didn't care if they did. I folded my arms down on the sand and rested my head on my sandy arms. My sun-kissed hair sprawled out like halo around me; no doubt filled with sand, it would be a pain to remove in the morning. Only then when I was fully and finally rested did I realize just how tired I really was. My limbs felt like a pile of goo, I felt like if I tried to move, they would simply fall off. My eyes burned for sleep, and once I finally gave into sleep, I went instantly.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of low chuckles and husky deep voices murmuring to each other. Suddenly, I felt hands on my arms and lower back. I groaned sleepily when I felt hands wrap around my back and underneath the bend in my tail. It was strange though, my tail felt different. The feel of skin on skin is what I felt on my tail instead. I sleepily opened my eyes, my vision was blurred from sleep, I could only catch glimpses of faces. It was too dark to see anything clearly. My eye brows twitched in confusion and I reached my arms out to grasp something, but there was nothing. Except for the two pair of strong arms that had suddenly wrapped themselves around me, the ground disappearing from beneath me. I was being carried somewhere and I didn't know where; not only that, I also notices that we were on land. My people can't walk.

_Humans, _my mind screamed in a panic. _oh no! _Abruptly, my eyes shot open and I flailed my arms around, struggled to free myself from the attacker. I screamed as I pushed away from the human. I scrambled away from the human or _humans._ There must have been at least 10 of them, they all peered down at me with leery grins. Then I noticed the one thing that nearly made my heart stop. I had a pair of _legs! _And I was naked! Snapping my attention from my new-found legs, I brought my hands up to covered my bare skin. I split my hair in the middle at the back of my head with one hand, while the other covered my breasts, and used my hair as a cover for my exposed chest. I screamed again, when one of the men reached his hand out to grab my arm. With a startled gasp, I flinched away and kicked my leg out. the bottom part of my feet hit him somewhere between his legs and he double over in pain with a loud groan. I stared at the man who had fallen with wide eyes, this seemed to anger the other human as they made their way to me with angry frowns. The sound of my pounding heart was too loud for me to hear what they were grumbling about. The odd material that they wore to hide their bodies was strange, I had never seen such things.

The materials that covered their legs flared out, but were tucked into this leather material that covered their feet and wrapped around the bottom half of their legs. I crawled father away as they came closer, all the while, frightened shrieks erupted from my through. Reaching behind me with one hand, I searched for something that I could use as a weapon, but all I felt was sand. I turned around to look for a rock somewhere in the sand, I almost sighed in relief when I found a small black rocked slightly buried in the sand. I grabbed just when I felt a pair of calloused hands grab both of my upper arms. I turned my head back around only to be met with lustful coal-black eyes. He had a black patch covering his left eye and a scar running across his left cheek. He gave me a wide grin, his teeth were a rotting orangey yellow and his breath reeked of something I couldn't identify. It was a bitter stench that burned my nose and made my eyes water. I could practically hear his lecherous thoughts as his eyes raked over my naked form. He pulled me up to my feet, but I could stand up straight. My legs felt weird, having legs felt so strange, it was like all of my weight was being forced down into my legs. I could feel the sand sift in between my toes, the tiny rocks softly pressing into the bottom of my feet. And suddenly, I felt a prickly feeling spreading through my legs. It almost hurt, I felt fear brewing in the pit of my stomach, was I supposed to feel this kind of things in my legs, was this normal?

My arm was yanked forward and I cried out, feeling my skin stretching slightly. I bit my lip as I stared into the man's eyes. _My father was right, _I thought. _Humans are evil creatures! _He forced my hands away from my chest and grinned wider at the sight. I struggled to forced them back together, but he was too strong. All the while, the other men behind him laughed and cheered him on. He brought both my hands together, holding them together in one hand, and squeezed my wrists tightly, I whimpered as the rock slipped from my fingers. His now free hand pushed my waist length blonde hair behind my shoulders, revealing my right breast. Tears sprang to my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. His rough hand rested on my hip, slowly shifted it up higher. I wriggled away, but he squeezed my wrists tighter, ceasing any of my movements. His hand paused just under my bust.

"That's enough, " a stern angry voice said from behind us. " Every one back to the ship!"

The man in front of me sneered, sending a glare at me before releasing me. I fell to the ground with my back to the man behind me. I covered my face with my hair, doing my best to stop my sobs and hide my tearful eyes. My body shook with sobs as I shield my arms with my arms, pulling my knees into my chest. The other men walked around me, back to wherever they had come from.

" 'till next time, lass."

The man who had grabbed me said in a sickly sweet tone. Anger flooded my being. Grabbing the rock I had dropped, I spun around and threw the rock at the man's head. He grunted and stumbled forward. With and angered growl, he turned back and glared at me, Ready to stomp back over to me with clenched fist. I sent the nastiest glare I could muster up. "Why ye wee cur." He grumbled, the language he spoke in I was unfamiliar with, but I was positive that it was a nasty insult.

But before the man could take a step, a hand covered in white material stopped at his chest, holding him back. "I said back to the ship." The other man said again, he must have been the leader if he was giving out orders to the other men. With one last snarl of the man, he turned on his heel and made his way back to whatever the "ship" is. I watched as the group of men stalked off, the man I had kicked earlier had a slight limp in his walk. I let a small smile form on my face in satisfaction. But as quick as the smile formed, it disappeared when the man giving out orders spoke. "Who are you?"He demanded, I glared up at him, but upon further inspection at the man's face, I came to one conclusion.

This human was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid my eyes on. He was of average height, his skin was perfectly tones and looked soft. His thin eyebrows pulled down into a frown, his lips turned upside down. He had the most startling golden eyes, peering down at me. They were so fierce, I could almost feel it piercing holes through my skin. It was almost like staring into that floating orb in the sky that father had called the sun, except it didn't sting my eyes when I did look up into them. They were so beautiful. No one in Atlantis had ever had such beautifully starting golden eyes. I literally stole the breath away from my lungs. My eyes shifted from his handsome face to the material he wore. It was a long coat that was coloured in a bright vibrant red colour. Along the trim of the coat was golden. The long coat stopped just at the top of the leather coverings around his feet. The material around his legs flared out, it was the colour of light brown, with a strap around it, the metal object connecting the split wrap was gold, the pointy part of the brown wrap pierced a hole through the wrap. It seemed to have a firm hold around the flare-y material wrapped around his legs. Wrapped around his head was a cloth that was mostly hidden by his equally beautiful golden hair and the funny like material placed on the top of his head. There was also another brown strap going across from his right shoulder, across his chest to his left hip. Underneath the wrap was bare skin, with the hints of another cloth underneath his coat, but was left open. I bit my lip at the sight of his well toned and sculpted body. Tight abs with a broad chest, but he also had many scars that decorated his built form.

Something about this man spoke tragedy and struggle. Curiosity sparked within me, just who was this human? He took a step towards me and I flinched away, crawling back. Despite this man's natural beauty, he was still a human, and humans could never be trusted..

"Hey, are you deaf?" Annoyance clearly heard in his voice as I watched frown on his face deepen. I covered my bare chest and drew my legs in, curling my hands into fists. I sent a glare his way and held up a fist, ready to fight. His eyes roamed over my body, but not in the way the other men did, what surprised me was the way he quickly averted his eyes somewhere else and his cheeks took on a faint pink colour. With an annoyed sigh, he pulled his coat off and threw it at me. I flinched as it heavily landed on me. It weighted a lot more than it looked. I looked at the red coat then back up at him, what did he want me to do with it?

I felt my own cheeks heat up upon further inspection at this human before, his body was _really _well-built. I could see the outline of his muscles, he was in the shape of a perfect human. I bit my lip hard for harbouring such thoughts for a human. What would my people back home think if they knew?

_Why does it matter what they think? _I thought bitterly.

His golden eyes rolled back over to me and he raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked expectantly, "aren't you going to put it on?"

The hint of irritation building up in his voice, _this human has no patience._ I thought as I looked him over once again. This time, he hand his muscular arms crossed over his built chest, his broad shoulders making themselves known as he huffed in annoyance.

"You're supposed to put it on." He said as if it were obvious. My cheeks flushed as I shifted my eyes back to the coat. Looking up at him then back down to the jacket, I did this a couple of times before lifting it up. There were two holes, for the arms. This wasn't difficult. All the while, I kept my eyes locked on the golden being before me, his eyes locked with mine and the pink blush that was beginning to fade appeared again. His frown deepened and he averted his eyes elsewhere again. "Will you hurry up already?"

Quickly, I copied the man who had worn this coat and forced my arms through the holes. The sleeved were way to long for my arms, the hung loosely off of my hands, I pulled the coat together, covered myself. I sat up straighter with my legs folded beneath me, the tingly feeling in my legs were faint but it was still there. Fully covering myself, I looked up at him for further instructions. He glared at me almost expectantly. It was strange, despite that he was a human, I felt drawn to this strange human.

"Well, come on. Let's go!"

He exclaimed, his voice held the same annoyance. I frowned back at him and forced my hands into the sand and pushed myself up to my feet. My legs were wobbly and unstable. I flailed my arms out to keep my balance, taking one unsteady step forward. My leg crumpled before me and I felt forward with a yelp. Waiting for the impact of the ground, I, instead felt a hand reach out to grab my elbow and pull me up. I was pulled up into a firm chest, my hands caught in between us, my hands rested on his bare chest.

He was so warm.

His heated wrapped around me, drawing me closer. I was so close; I had never been this close to a human before, and a part of me was frightened by it, the other part was... intrigued. I was interested in just what exactly humans were capable of, I wanted to study them, learn every thing I could, because maybe, my people have judge these _humans _to harshly. Maybe we were biased, we judged them because of one crime that the humans have committed against us. Did we make such assumptions out of fear or of fact. Those men before this golden eyed one proved that we were half right, but what about the other half? This man didn't look at me with such lustful and lecherous eyes. Instead, he chose to look away and cover me up. But even still, I was going to keep my guard up around them. Who knew what thoughts ran through these humans' minds.

"What? You can't walk or something?"

Ignore his very attractive appearance, this human was very rude. I chose to ignore him and pushed away from him and tried again, only to fall this time. An irritated groan was heard from behind me as I turned on my back, making sure to keep myself covered. I stared up at the golden man and he arched a golden brow at me. "Are you done yet?"

My cheeks flushed again and I frowned, averting my eyes elsewhere with a slight nod of my head. The man sighed through his nose before holding out a hand to me. I looked at it confused, earning roll of his eyes and a groan. He shook his hand out in front of me to take. I chewed my lower lip once again and took his hand, I was propelled into the air with startled gasp as he strung my arm around his neck. The inside of the bend in my arm felt his hair. It was long, and pulled back into a braid. I took a step forward, but he stopped me.

"You're to slow, we need to go now."

He explained to me as if I were a child, his impatience was really starting to get to me. This man seemed to always be like this; impatient and annoyed. He swiftly slipped and arm underneath my legs and another around my back. Startled, I wrapped my arms around his neck securely. He began making his way the same way the other men he ordered away went. I took in the surroundings around me; it was at the crack of dawn. The sun was just at the horizon. It cast beautiful lights that you would never see back from I was from. Underwater, all we see it darkness, up here it was warmer. I turned my thoughts back to the horizon, gazing at it with a faint smile. The sky looked as if it were painted over, a mixture of a soft purple, orange, and a golden-yellow, with a touch of pink. The colours faded out nearing the pale blue sky. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. But what struck me as odd was how far spread it went. It was so far out, I wondered if there would ever been a dead end. My father said that this place we lived in was named 'Earth.' No one has done it, but I wondered what would happen if you ever reached the ends of the earth, was it even possible? Or would you just fall off the face of the earth into nothingness?

Questions of this world because popping into my head. For so long, all I have known was the sea, I'd heard of the world above, but I was never one to be brave enough to venture to the top, to the surface... with humans. Slowly, my eyes shifted over to the golden eyed man carrying me. It was ironic really, all my life, I had been taught that humans were dangerous and evil creatures, yet her I am, being carried away by one, to wherever he was going. Why I didn't leave already back into the ocean was beyond me, but something about this man was intriguing, it drew me in, wanting to know him better, understand him, his behaviour, they way he lived. What was life as a human like?My eyes went back to my legs, I was still in shock. I was a mermaid, right? So why on earth did I have human legs?! Was I cursed? Is this my punishment from the Sea Gods for disobeying my way of life and fleeing from my home? How long will this curse last? Did I want this curse to end? And just like that, I found myself growing fond of legs. It felt good to finally be able to stand. I was tired of the sea. My parents were going to send me off to begin my new life, so why not begin my new life here, on land?

I kicked my legs out, loving the feeling of my muscles working together to make them move. I almost smiled, but was interrupted my an annoyed grunt.

"What the hell, woman! Stop kicking your damn legs!"

I stopped my legs in mid air, slowly bringing them down, and sending my eyes down cast. Silence settled over us, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the sand crunching under his feet. I shyly looked at him through my bangs, but quickly looked away with flushed cheeks when his eyes caught mine, this only seemed to deepen the frown that was already on his young handsome face. This man hand to be around my age, maybe two or three years older.

"Where are you from?"

I looked up at him, not knowing what to say. I couldn't tell him from Atlantis, he would think I was insane. I opened my mouth to finally speak, but all that came out was a croak, like a frog was caught in my throat. I had never really any need to use my voice, we all spoke through telepathy. We used our minds to speak, underwater, there was no talking, all around was silence. That was why we had sharp hearing and excellent eyesight. We could see in the dark. I bit my lip and felt my cheeks flush further. His eyes glanced down at me, "what? You can't speak or something?" He said bluntly, it was a rhetorical question from the tone of his voice. And suddenly, my mouth went dry and my tongue felt heavy in my mouth. He was peering down at me with a questioning gaze so intense that I had to resist the urge from crawling under around just to hide from his piercing eyes. I tried to speak again, but he interrupted me before I could even get a sound out.

"Better yet, why are you on this island alone, and..."

His cheeks took on a lighter colour, turning pink as his eyes wandered everywhere else but at me.

"_naked?"_

His voice came out slightly higher than normal, but he cleared his voice after.

"I ran away."

I simply said. My voice sounded raspy, I sounded as if I were breathless. The words flowing out of my mouth like the air that I had released along with the words. I swallowed again as the silence carried on.

"Why?"

I was reluctant to answer, I was a afraid he would think what I done was wrong as well. I wasn't aware of their customs to marriage. So I stayed quiet, keeping my gaze ahead. As we walked on a bit further, I was able to spot what looked like a boat, but a lot bigger. Like at least 10 times larger than a smaller boat. There were three large poles standing inside the boat, all of different sizes. The one in the middle being the tallest. These large white clothes were tied to the poles, the two poles in the front had 4, but the one in the back had only three, meaning it as the shortest one. All three poles were connecting together by more white cloths, swinging across from one pole to the other. The front of the large boat was a wooden pole sticking out, thinner than the poles that stood straight with the cloths. The colour of the large boat consisted of red and gold. The edges outlined with a golden colour. Beneath the pole sticking out from was a carved picture of a mermaid looking out toward the sea.

How ironic.

As we got closer, there were more men wandering inside the boat, their loud chatter filled the island.

"Ahoy! Th' cap'n be back!"

One man shouted with broken English and a heavy accents, I couldn't identify. My people were only taught between 3 languages: English, old Latin, and Greek. Their heads turned; there were so many humans, I didn't like it. Especially since those men from before, who had assaulted me, were among the large group. What if they were all the same as the men from before? I couldn't stay with them, once I gain control of my legs, I'd be able to leave.

"Oi, cap'n, ye brin' us back a treat?"

Another human man said, laughter rose among the crowd as their lecherous eyes wandered my covered form. I shivered at the thought of being a a large boat, in the middle of the ocean, with these humans. Feeling self-conscious, I pulled the coat on tighter, making sure to show no skin, except for my legs.

"Enough," the captain said as we stopped in front of the large boat. Some men walked down to shore, on a wooden plank, from the boat. The Captain stopped and gently laid me down on my feet, but I stuck close to him, not trusting these men as they began to crowd around. This man, the Captain, was the only human I felt that I could trust at this point, although he was rude and moody. The men sent grins my way, murmuring to each other.

"Be th' poppet stayin' wit' us, cap'n?"

"Yes. The girl will work on the ship until we dock."

"But cap'n, th' next dockin' will be in 3 or more months!"

The man from beside me said, eyeing me suspiciously. They all spoke in broken English, and they wore dirty clothes. Most of the men had gold and silver in some of their teeth, it made me wonder what this did to get their teeth like that. But all of their teeth were rotting with horrible smelling breath.

"Then so be it, everyone back on the ship, and prepare to sail. Let's move!"

The Captain barked, the men grumbled to themselves as the made their way back to the ship, preparing for "sail," whatever that meant. The Captain began walking toward the ship, I took my first step with wobbly legs, my arms flailing, the coat opened up a little. I squealed, reaching out for the Captain's shirt. I tugged it lightly and he turned around with an annoyed glare.

"What?"

I quickly covered myself again, "I can't walk yet."

I said in a quiet voice. I watched his face twisted into one that of irritation, he growled, and grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward. I stumbled forward as he gripped my shoulder to keep me from falling. I don't know why I didn't notice this before, but his right hand that was gripping my shoulder felt odd. It was rock solid, I could feel the cold of his hand radiating out from his white cloth covering his hands. It was strange, even I knew that all humans shouldn't feel like this. His left hand felt warm and fleshy. I looked up at him confused, his golden eyes flashed darkly before he turned away, removing his right hand from my shoulder.

"Look, girl. I don't know what's wrong with you, but if you're going to staying on my ship, you're going to have to work. So I suggest you learn to walk and fast, otherwise, you walk the plank."

I didn't know what he was referring to when he said, " you walk the plank,' but I knew it couldn't mean anything good. With his left hand still gripping my wrist, he pulled me along, but would slow down with an exasperate groan every time I stumbled to keep my composure.

If I was going to stay with these humans for 3 months, I really needed to step up my game, otherwise, I'd be 'walking the plank.' When we finally made it to the deck, it felt like I was pinned with the stares of these humans, it was overwhelming and intimidating. This was going to be a very long 3 months... if I even last that long.


End file.
